​​​On March 5, 2008, about 1:39 p.m., a natural gas explosion destroyed a residence at 171 Mardi Gras Drive in Plum Borough, Pennsylvania, killing a man and seriously injuring a 4-year-old girl. Two other houses were destroyed, and 11 houses were damaged. 

​At 1:40 p.m., the Holiday Park Fire Department was notified about an explosioninvolving a home with two people inside. About 1:45 p.m., the police were on the scene. About 1:50 p.m., the fire chief arrived at the scene. About 1:59 p.m., an injured man was pulled from the debris. An injured girl, who had been blown free of the debris and rescued by a neighbor, received on-scene medical assistance. About 30 minutes after the explosion, a helicopter evacuated the man and the girl. The man died en route to the hospital. The local fire department declared the fire to be under control at 2:20 p.m.; at that time, the gas pipeline was feeding three small fires in the debris. The fire department remained at the scene until the fires were extinguished, at 6:59 p.m. 

​We ​determined that the ​probable cause of the leak, explosion, and fire in Plum Borough, Pennsylvania, on March 5, 2008, was excavation damage to the 2-inch natural gas distribution pipeline that stripped the pipe’s protective coating and made the pipe susceptible to corrosion and failure.